Altercation lands septuagenarians in jail

Police responded to the Tarpon Spring woman's home after a neighbor said she poked a machete through a fence.

TARPON SPRINGS -- Police went to Ruth H. Hunt's house after receiving a call that she was threatening a neighbor's dog with a machete.

When police arrived at about 1:45 p.m. Sunday, Hunt, 72, put down the machete.

But she picked up a pair of pruning shears and charged at the two officers, police said.

"She was fighting," Tarpon Springs Police Sgt. Tom Hill said.

Officers Sheila Fowlie and Larry Kobielnik backed away from her. They then tried to subdue Hunt, who lives in the Oakleaf Village subdivision off Klosterman Road, but she continued to fight, Hill said.

Hunt bit Kobielnik on the right forearm while he tried to put handcuffs on her. She also hit and pushed Fowlie, according to police reports.

Meanwhile, Frank S. Polosky, 78, who also lives at the house at 204 Leafwood Road, came up behind Fowlie and struck her in the back of the head several times, police said.

He punched Kobielnik in the face and hit Fowlie while she tried to put him in handcuffs, according to police reports.

"The gentleman . . . wasn't frail by any means," Hill said.

Fowlie told Polosky she would use pepper spray unless he cooperated, Hill said.

He continued to fight, and Fowlie used the spray, Hill said.

Hill said the situation was complicated by the fact that Hunt and Polosky are elderly.

"You're trying to maintain physical control without hurting them," he said.

Hunt was charged with resisting arrest with violence, two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.

She was being held at the Pinellas County Jail Monday in lieu of $12,500 bail.

Polosky was charged with resisting arrest with violence and two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer.

He was being held at the jail in lieu of $7,500 bail.

Hunt's neighbor, Carol Brown, said Hunt poked the machete through a fence Sunday toward her dog, Teddy, a chow. Brown pulled the dog away from the fence before he was hurt, she said.